Here's the place to chat about all things classic. Also includes a feedback forum where you can communicate directly with the editorial team - don't hold back, they'd love to know what they're doing right (or wrong of course!)

My first thought was that the name may have been yet another eBayese to English translation and that it was meant, as you suggested, to be Cressida, but Toyota have built many home market only models and their USA and other non-Japanese plants all had their own, unique models so I believe that even if I work my way through every JDM car, that I've not yet imported - or bought from an importer - and used as daily transport, I shall need to live to the age of 132 years in order to come close to owning one example of each such car for just a week of the remaining 78 years of that arbitrarily selected figure of 132.

Rich, keep searching! MX5s without rust are still out there and somewhere, there's one with your name on it. Quite literally if I can get flickR photo editing to work properly by the end of play today!

How about a nice red, Mercedes Sprinter? Low mileage, year 2010. It broke down on me last night. I had only gone round to the local supermarket because my missus wanted an ingredient for the dinner that she was cooking. Came out of the car park and it went into limp mode and then broke down on a busy roundabout. I managed to get it to a point of safety, had a brief look under the bonnet, strong smell of diesel. My local garage came out, he had a look and suggested that the high pressure fuel pump might be the problem, but added that it might only be a hose that's ruptured. He towed me back to his workshop on the back of his Volvo estate, that was exciting. Now I'm just waiting for the prognosis.

I've just agreed to buy a 2003 Discovery TD5. Someone please prepare the padded cell and load the syringe..
It's an exceptional example in as much as the chassis and the steel bits of the shell are in original, never welded condition thanks to the attentions of the p/o who, thanks to my giving him a drum of the stuff when the vehicle was new, has kept it treated with Ensis throughout its entire life. Hang about though, isn't this an own goal? Sure & it would have been half the price if the chassis was falling apart.

The Pajero Mini is just too tidy to use in the winter, even though it too is treated to the hilt with my favourite rust preventing goo-fadge, so it will be stored under a decent car cover with a breathable yet waterproof material on the outside and some soft & pussy stuff on the inside, a sort of fur coat for a car as it were.

Sorry to interrupt the Sprinter based fun & games with this newsflash!
As you were, chaps..

cell is ready for you john, my cousin who loves all thing landrover refuses to have a td5 in the shop.. if youre looking for a disco, have a look at a publication called land rover monthly (i think its the august edition) a mk 1 disco is on the front page it might be an auto, it also runs some sort of jaguar engine.. cuz is the chap who fixes it when it gets broken..https://www.google.fr/search?q=land+rov ... qJSs1PpJVM:
this one.... if the link works

Hmm, I've looked at and tried on a few 1st generation ones as well, including a really nice looking Japanese import that bizarrely had more rot in the chassis than any of the UK supplied ones I've seen , but the TD5 in the 2nd generation model is the engine I prefer as it's strong when looked after properly and owners locally speak of getting well into the thirties per gallon, meaning that the thing would potentially use less juice than the Pajero, but with the ability to cruise in relaxed fashion at a little beyond the Paj's maximum (non ear-damaging ) speed of 60ish mph.
The one I've settled on (subject to a marque specialist also taking a thorough look before my cash changes hands - I have only a general knowledge of things Land Rover related and as such, am not ashamed to spend the money for the check rather than risk shelling out more for a duff car) has no leaks through the sunroofs, no leaks where the roof bars are attached, no rot as I mentioned, no advisories on its last two tests and no fails on anything more worrying than a small amount of windscreen damage - long since sorted with a new screen. The last five cylinder engine I drove behind was that found in an eighties Audi Coupé and I've also enjoyed the ones found in some modern Volvos, I love their unique sound and the smoothness of them and if I have to have a LR product back to the workshop occasionally - for random things to be reattached following the vehicle's attempts to remind me that it's a British built car - then so be it. The asking price wouldn't buy another Japanese 4x4 in anything like as straight a condition and the insurance for the Disco (note that I've already started using the abbreviation, even before it's mine) is cheap. Very cheap.

I shall report back once I know whether I'm about to make a big mistake!

I shall report back once I know whether I'm about to make a big mistake!

I f you do report any serious problems that cost time, money and teeth gnashing, you can at least take comfort in the fact that you are the saviour Samaritan who took the heat off Paul. He & his Iveco have both gone very quiet of late.

I shall report back once I know whether I'm about to make a big mistake!

I f you do report any serious problems that cost time, money and teeth gnashing, you can at least take comfort in the fact that you are the saviour Samaritan who took the heat off Paul. He & his Iveco have both gone very quiet of late.

fear not The Jalopy is well, just been a tad busy, there shall be more

On a 'disco note ' I recall an oppo' treating himself to a brand new one as a treat when he retired. His daily was and still is an Amazon that he did a nut and bolt resto' on .
He lasted less than a year with the Disco , in the end the suppliers took it back after lots of 'complaining'

......in the end the suppliers took it back after lots of 'complaining'

Yeah, I was in that position with a MK7 Golf TDI that I bought new in 2013. Its 7 gear "dry" DSG was rubbish, compared to the early, six gear version with wet clutches as found in the earlier Jetta owned by Dad at the time. I rejected the car at two years and bought a 25 year old Toyota as a stopgap to replace the VW and the Corolla is still going, now 28 years of age & still free of rust, its "proper" 3 speed (with converter lock) gearbox is a typically whiney Aisin A131L but changed much more rapidly between gears than the DSG, plus the Toyota didn't burn oil, didn't crack two windscreens as a result of poor assembly at the bulkhead, which the Golf had done by year one and the old Toyota is now with a friend, who remains very happy with it.

On the Land Rover; it was showing uneven tyre wear to one front corner, in spite of the swivel pins both appearing unworn, pulled left under braking and right under power on test drive, needed a new aircon compressor and seemed to need either new airbags or a coil spring conversion to get it right. Its essentially solid chassis had some scale in places I wasn't able to reach, so although caked in Waxoyl, the treatment had clearly been applied too late in the car's life to be effective. Ensis wouldn't have had this issue!
So I've just found an early gen 1 Disco TD that should be better and at half the price. This one is a Japanese import, has had its chassis treated when it landed and hasn't even the slightest sign of chassis rot. It's only done around 166000KM, drove beautifully on test today and could, if extension seat runners and swivels are available for the early car - they were for the Gen 2 Disco which was a factor in its being suitable for me. We'll see, but I've also been noticing Volvo 4x4s, not so great for the really rough roads but the Mini can be kept for this sort of thing on the basis that it's insured on my key policy so there'd be no point in taking it out of use in any case.

Then there's a really clean Volvo 145 for sale locally. It's a manual but has a recently fitted - therefore manageable - clutch cable so with a little slackening of the pedal end the action would be fine for either a steering wheel-mounted bicycle brake lever or heel operation to get the clutch working. These 140s are incredibly light in the clutch operation. I should however triple check with DVLA about my manual entitlement, currently active but they've messed up renewals several times before and I need to know that I'm road legal.